By Dave Andrusko
Underlining the gravity of the upcoming vote On Issue 1 which would embed abortion in the state constitution, Ohio’s pro-life Gov. Mike DeWine has run his first-ever ad addressing a state ballot measure. He explained why in a Fox News Digital interview with Andrew Mark Miller.
Following an ad he ran with Ohio’s First Lady urging his constituents to vote “No” on Issue 1, DeWine spoke with Miller at the governor’s mansion in Columbus, Ohio.
“Fran and I have never done an ad before for a statewide issue or even a local issue but we both feel very strongly about this and I think whether you’re pro-choice or pro-life the constitutional amendment that we will be voting on in a couple of weeks just goes way, way too far.”
“It would allow abortion at any point in the pregnancy,” DeWine added. “It would negate Ohio’s law that we’ve had on the books for many, many years that prohibits partial birth abortion.”
What about the involvement of parents in the abortion decision of a minor girl?
“It also really strikes at parents’ rights and the relationship between a parent and in this case, a daughter,” he said.
“We have a law that says that you have to have parental consent in regard to a minor getting an abortion that would be knocked out by this constitutional amendment as well. So it would put Ohio in a small category of the most permissive states in the union in regard to abortion. I just don’t think it fits Ohio. It’s not who we are. It’s not where we are.”
DeWine went on to say that groups supporting a “Yes” vote on Issue 1 have run deceptive ads about what the amendment would do.
“I think that the people who are doing these ads that are for Issue 1 are misleading people,” DeWine said.
For example, supporters say the amendment guarantees help with miscarriages, a common misdirection pro-abortion tactic.
“Medical assistance is out there,” DeWine told Miller. “I mean, we have hospitals. They do what they do, doctors. So they’re wrapping this into things that are certainly already well taken care of by the medical community and our hospitals and our doctors. So just, you know, I think it’s a very misleading campaign that they’re running.“
Miller asked DeWine how he was able to effectively communicate the abortion issue. He said he has “tried to focus on the science.”
“Even if you have people who pro-choice and think that abortion should be allowed at some point up until a certain point, I don’t know anybody who thinks that abortion should be permitted all the way up until birth,” DeWine said. “I mean that just strikes most people as going too far… I think part of my job is to try, and Fran and I, my wife and I were trying to do with this ad, is just to let people know exactly how radical this constitutional amendment is.”
Most voters he has interacted with don’t want to talk about abortion because it is an “unpleasant subject,” which is why he filmed the ad from his kitchen. That allowed him to speak directly to Ohio voters and let them know that wherever they stand on the abortion issue, this measure is too “radical” to enshrine in the state constitution
In interviews as well as in the ad, DeWine stressed that he did not believe ”Ohio has ever overturned a constitutional amendment that was approved by the people, which means that if this amendment passes it is likely to be permanent,” according to Miller.
Miller asked DeWine what he would tell an Ohioan who is undecided on how to vote on Issue 1?
The governor said that voters
“don’t have to take my word for it” but need only to “look at the language of the constitutional amendment and look at how the courts have defined things in the past.”